It’s edging towards that time of the season, with speculation, fake rumours and random ‘EFL Transfer Hub’ accounts popping up on Twitter linking us with random players. With play-off campaigns still ongoing, things are yet to get into full flow, but I spent a few hours today searching for potential loan signings we might make this summer. As I always say with these types of articles, please take it with a pinch of salt. Some (if not all) of these names have never had their names linked with Lincoln City and I personally believe they could be a good fit.
I do enjoy doing these types of articles as it allows me to gain some more knowledge of other players and look back at how wrong I was in three months’ time, so here are four players I think we could get on loan, there was five but as I was about to publish, new information came to light meaning I couldn’t include him, so you’ll have to settle for four!
Sol Brynn
The first player on this list is someone I’ve heard quite a lot about over the course of the season. Sol Brynn is a young goalkeeper, who spent this season on loan at Swindon Town from Middlesborough. The young stopper has kept thirteen clean sheets last season and was one of Swindon’s best players, winning player of the season, in what many would consider a tough season for the League Two side.
His performances last season have earnt him potentially a new deal with it being widely reported that he is in talks. Looking at some clips from last season, he looks good with his feet and has made great saves in big moments for Swindon. Thirteen clean sheets is a very good number for a team that struggled at times over the course of the season. On top of that, he kept two more clean sheets than Rushworth did in his League Two spell, so if we are looking for another loan goalkeeper then Sol Byrnn would certainly be high on our list.
I still personally view Jordan Wright as the number one next season, but with our previous three starting goalkeepers being loanees, I had to put one in this article.
Harry Boyes
I had to get this on in there and I think any level-headed City fan wouldn’t be complaining if Harry Boyes was wearing an Imps shirt next season. I think this is a no-brainer if we can get it over the line. Harry started slowly when he first joined the club, with Sean Roughan being Mark Kennedy’s first-choice left wing-back but when he got his chance against Sheffield Wednesday, he never looked back.
Harry is what we were missing for the first six months of the season. I really rate Roughan as a defender and I think he has a bright future as a left-sided centre-half in a three or a left-back in a four, but he doesn’t quite have the attacking quality to be effective in the final third as much as you need to in the system we played this season. Harry, on the other hand, is made for the role. His delivery is excellent and he likes to take on an effort from range too. What I also liked about Harry was his set-piece delivery too, something we lacked for the last eighteen months or so.
If we can get Harry back, it would be a massive coup. He’s not a Championship player yet, but if he comes back to us on loan, we can help him become that level of player. He knows the club and he suits the playing style and what the gaffer wants from his wing-backs. As I said, it’s a no-brainer for me.
John McAtee
I might get a few pelters for this but I’d love to see John McAtee in a City shirt, based on what I’ve seen. This is easily the most unrealistic one on the list, but I think he’d suit our system really well. He signed for Luton from Grimsby after an impressive National League campaign before heading back to Grimsby on loan in League Two. He’s been around the area, spending time at Scunthorpe too, early in his career, but his real impressive form has come at Grimsby.
His performances in the National League were incredible, but his development this season has been held back by injury. It would be a risk bringing him up to League One, but one that would be worth taking if he could show his form from Grimsby’s National League promotion season.
Nico O’Reilly
This would be a deal that would be right up our street and it’s Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly. The 18-year-old has been impressive for City’s academy side this season notching up twenty-one goal contributions in twenty games last season. He plays primarily as an attacking midfielder but has played off the wing a few times this season too. We need dynamic attackers and Nico would give us that. We have Mandroiu in the squad, who isn’t a natural winger I believe and I just don’t think he plays with the same mindset as something like O’Reilly who likes to drive at people, get to the byline or have a crack himself, Mandroiu is more of creative player who would be great sitting behind the centre-forward. I just think O’Reilly gives us what Charles Vernam does in terms of build-up play, but he has goal-scoring pedigree at youth levels, and Vernam just didn’t offer us any output last season.
We know we have a good relationship with Man City because of how we helped out with the development of Morgan Rogers and Lewis Fiorini, so I think if we were in for O’Reilly or any of the City young players, I think we’d be high on their list of potential destinations.
I was hoping to get five in this article, but as I already said, something came to my attention so I had to remove the fifth player on the list at the last minute. That being said though, I hoped this gave you a good bank holiday read and hopefully, I’ll be able to get more content out soon as more news starts to come out. Also, please don’t take this article too seriously, it’s just some POTENTIAL signings, which are just mere suggestions.